The rise of French skateboarder Vincent Milou: Tears, good mates, and a drive to win
Locked in on his goal of winning street skateboarding Olympic gold at Paris 2024 the French skater has been unyielding in developing his skillset at competitive events and in skate parks, with the SLS Super Crown Final in his sights.
Skateboarding
The skateboarding never stops for Vincent Milou.
From turning out a string of impressive results on the competition circuit, to embarking on odysseys around the US capturing clips for his latest video parts, the 25-year-old Frenchman is unrelenting in his quest to become the greatest street skateboarder around.
But it is not in vain.
His ongoing commitment to paying his dues to the cultural aspects of street skateboarding, alongside kicking it at contests, is why, he believes, his stock has risen in the last couple of years.
“Who you skate with is important,” Milou tells Olympics.com in an exclusive interview. “If you skate with a good group of mates, they inspire you and if they’re also good at skating it helps you progress, be inspired, and to become the best.
“Recently, I have had a lot of videos that have come out in magazines and that always pushes you because you go on tour with other people and other brands. Suddenly you find yourself with other people so you progress, you skate better. Then you find at a contest you’re skating better."
Stronger together - it’s almost as if Milou is reading from the list of Olympic values, which is not all that surprising given the Bayonne native’s ambitions.
Like all elite competition skateboarders there is a steely determination in Milou’s eyes at the mention of progression. And the Games is an arena where he wants to deliver more.
“I want to win. That’s why I am going. It’s as simple as that,” the Frenchman says plainly on his plans for Paris 2024. “We’re all here to have fun a little bit but at the end of the day if we’re here it’s because we’re competitive; we want to win.
“The symbolism of the Games is iconic no matter where you go but to win an Olympic medal at home, that’s what I want.”
Whether there is an extra dose of resolve in that statement after finishing just 1.21 points off the podium when skateboarding made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, Milou doesn’t say.
Still, he insists, he is proud of his achievement:
“I skated very well that day. [My fourth place] is more of a success than a failure.”
Two people he is sure would be thrilled to see him besting his rivals - Olympic champion Horigome Yuto of Japan and the prodigious American Nyjah Huston - on La Place de la Concorde in two years time are Milou’s parents. Though, he confesses, they weren’t always supportive of his skating:
“When I was young, my parents wanted me to do a team sport like football or basketball, so that I would have a club and friends. I started skating on the side and there came a moment, around the age of 12, where I didn’t want to go to sports lessons anymore. I only wanted to skate.
“At the start they weren’t happy until the day I cried and refused to go to football. I didn’t want to go, I only wanted to skate.”
Milou's tearful protest ultimately proved convincing enough. He has been skating ever since.
Up next for the jet-setting French skater will be continuing his 2022 Street League Skateboarding (SLS) campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada (October 8-9) where he will target a top four finish from his current second-place ranking in order to book himself a spot in next month's Super Crown Final.
With the Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying period also now in full swing, Milou will continue to have his work cut out for him as he builds towards the Games in between continuing filming parts.
It'll mean a jammed-pack schedule, but fortunately for the hungry skateboarder eyeing the number one prize on the streets and in the parks skating is exactly where he wants to be.